The Lost Descendant

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Meanwhile after Jonathan and Sarah left me at the library, I tried to work things out. "I am a Caster," I told myself although I am still having a hard time believing that. I took off the locket hanging from my neck and stared at its inscriptions and symbols. I grabbed some books for translation but the language inscribed seemed to be an old language. I walked around the library to look for more books, then I passed by the portraits of Caster families throughout the generations.

There is this one portrait that suddenly made me drop the books I was carrying. There is a feeling that I cannot explain as I saw myself in one of the portraits. I look exactly like the little girl in this family portrait. I do not dress that well but we have the same distinct features when I was younger. Beside her was probably her brother who physically exhibits the same features as her. You can tell their resemblance to their parents. They could be related to me. They must be. This could not be a coincidence.

I do not know how long I was staring at it and a part of me started to think that this is the family that I cannot remember. This was the grandest and probably the happiest in all the family portraits I saw at the library.

Suddenly, I heard the door open and someone came in. It was one of the Council. You could hear her black stilettos echoing through the marble floor of the library as she walked toward me. She greeted me with a smile and I bowed in respect acknowledging her. I was informed that the woman is already in her forties but she doesn't look like it. She still looked young; someone in her twenties. She has dark auburn hair, green eyes, and a skin as white as snow which made it more stand out as she confidently wears a black vintage dress complimenting her stilettos. She is beautiful and she glows in youth. Her name is Charlotte.

"This is the Cromwell family. They are direct descendants of Nicholas Flamel. They are the most powerful of all the Casters," she said as she stood beside me looking at the portrait. "The Cromwell family are believed to be dead when the Coven found out about their ancestry."

I looked at her and asked, "What do the Coven want from them and all the other Casters?" The Coven has been bothering me since I was chased in the forest and even Jonathan does not want to talk about it so I think that maybe Charlotte can answer that for me.

"The 'Elixir of Life' runs in the blood of the descendants of Flamel. The Coven once wanted to get ahold of the 'Elixir of Life' and hunted down Flamel and his family but in order to prevent anyone else from using the elixir, Flamel drank the elixir thus, giving him power and youth. Some of the elixir was used in the making of the Philosopher's Stone which made his wife to be like him too. When his wife gave birth to a daughter, it was then that he knew that he was able to pass the elixir to the next generation and make the descendants more and more powerful," Charlotte explained. "Flamel and his family were hunted down until the last generation of Cromwell."

"So, the 'Elixir of Life' is real?" I asked. "And it runs only in the blood of the Cromwell since they are the descendants of Flamel? How about the other Casters?"

"The other Casters came from different bloodlines and have the power not because of the 'Elixir of Life' but through the Philosopher's Stone," Charlotte explained as I tried to follow her in her narrative. "Flamel entrusted the stone to his apprentice Jason Wyman. The stone gave him power and youth but not a power as strong as Flamel. Wyman was able to pass down his powers as well. But the stone was lost after the Coven burned down the village where the Wymans lived."

"Some also gained power by choice and performance of the ancient ritual of sacrifice to the Greek goddess of magic, Hecate. When proven worthy, Hecate will bless you with power and if not, you will die," she added. "Those who were gifted of power by Hecate are usually seers, healers, and practices necromancy."